More than 100 jobs could go in Aberdeen University cuts

More than 100 jobs could be lost at Aberdeen University as part of a £10m savings plan.

The university court - its highest governing body - says the institution faces "stark" challenges and will open an early retirement and voluntary redundancy scheme next week.

It says while compulsory redundancies remain a last resort, they cannot be ruled out.

The measures were agreed at a court meeting and contained in an email to staff from principal Peter Edwards and interim senior governor Gary McRae, seen by BBC Scotland News on Thursday night.

Staff represented by the University and College Union (UCU) went on strike last month over the cost-saving measures.

It was the latest in a series of walkouts in the ongoing dispute.

In the email, staff were told the total "reduction in academic workforce" could be up to 111 full-time roles.

It added: "Importantly, however, the focus of the decision made by court was to reduce our costs, not to reduce our workforce by a specific number.

"The challenges we and the rest of our sector face is stark."

Prof Edwards later told BBC Scotland News the cuts meant the university "regrettably" had to reduce the academic staff headcount.

"I absolutely appreciate that it's an incredibly difficult thing for our staff to hear," he said.

"We need to try and do this through voluntary means but we cannot rule out compulsory redundancies because the financial imperative is very, very clear.

"Ultimately, this is about ensuring that the University of Aberdeen has a long-term successful future ahead of it as an institution."

The university reopened a voluntary severance and early retirement scheme last year in a bid to find £5.5m in savings.

It also announced a freeze on recruitment and asked departments to identify other measures to save money.

A total of 41 people took up an offer of a severance package or early retirement during that round of cuts, the university told BBC Scotland News last month.

A spokesperson from Universities Scotland said: "It would be inappropriate for us to comment on individual institutions, but the grim reality is that universities are facing an incredibly challenging mix of rising costs, set against both falling and highly volatile sources of income, domestically and internationally.

"More than half of our universities were forecast to be in deficit this year, even before the full economic shock of recent geopolitical events take effect.

"That requires governing bodies to take hard decisions in order to keep the institution financially sustainable."

Dan Cutts, Aberdeen co-chair of the UCU, said the news was "absolutely devastating" and the union will "fight as hard as possible".

"There is a lot of anger among our members at the moment - people are extremely stressed and worried for their livelihoods," Cutts told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast.

"We will be gauging the feeling of the membership and taking things forward from there.

"We're moving into the summer where a lot of research happens and the decisions by senior management are disrupting this."

He suggested the university had a plan of what they want to achieve and it will be the staff who are made to pay for it.

At First Minister's Questions on Thursday, John Swinney encouraged the university to consult with all involved parties and said the Scottish government would expect the university to take on the lessons learned and recommendations in the Gillies Report.

The Gillies Report was commissioned following the severe financial situation at Dundee University.

Among the recommendations was a culture of transparency.

It is the latest in a series of major cost-saving measures announced in Scotland's higher education sector.

The University of Edinburgh announced it was to seek £140m in cuts to tackle financial difficulties in February last year.

The Scottish government bailed out Dundee University with £40m of emergency funding in a bid to help it through its own financial challenges.

Strikes over cost-cutting have also taken place at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, while Strathclyde University announced plans to cut 70 jobs in December.